B.K.S.IYENGAR - THE YOGA LEGEND

Shri.B.K.S.Iyengar is the Yoga Legend who is considered one of the greatest experts of all times.  My friend Sampath has written a nice piece in his blog on 14th December 2015 and I am reproducing that article here with his permission.

https://youtu.be/fcPjvp4La8A


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14th December 2015

Did you google today and observe that different ‘0’ in Google !! ~ a search takes us to articles in Independent.co.uk; Telegraph.co.uk., BBC, Huffington Post – and all of them on a man who passed away last year, who would have been 97 today. 

It is Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, born in 1918 into a poor family in southern India - one of 13 children, of whom only 10 survived. He was sickly as a child - suffering from malaria and typhoid - and was introduced to yoga by a brother-in-law who ran a school in Mysore as part of an effort to restore his health.  At the age of 18 Iyengar became a teacher in the city of Pune, practising what he called an "art and science". His career was to  last more than than eight decades.  In Pune he taught Menuhin. The music maestro had complained that he could not relax or sleep, but in an interview with the veteran India broadcaster Sir Mark Tully in 2001, Guru Iyengar said “within one minute”, he was “snoring happily away”. The violinist was so impressed that he invited his guru to Switzerland in 1954.  It was the break that launched him on the West, and visits to the US and the rest of Europe followed.  Aldous Huxley, the author, was another of his famed disciples.

www.independent.co.uk writes :  BKS Iyengar: Four facts you need to know about the yoga guru behind today's Google Doodle.  Those four interesting facts are :   

1.His brother-in-law was known as the “father of modern yoga”  :  In 1934, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya first invited his young, sickly brother-in-law to train with him in what was then the kingdom of Mysore (now Karnataka state) in southern India to improve his health. Krishnamacharya was one of the key figures behind the revival of “hatha yoga” - from which Iyengar yoga developed - in the early 20th century which focused on the correct alignment of the body.  

2.  He owed his international success to an American violinist :  In 1952, Yehudi Menuhin befriended BKS Iyengar. Menuhin believed doing yoga improved his playing and invited him to Switzerland with him in 1954.  After that visit, Iyengar travelled frequently to the west to demonstrate his special technique and hundreds of Iyengar yoga centres sprang up around the world.

3. He taught the 85-year-old Queen Elisabeth of Belgium how to do a headstand :  Iyengar was first introduced to the dowager Queen in 1958 and she told him she wanted to learn how to do his signature sirasana headstand. She gave him a bust of his head which she had sculpted herself. In 1965, he visited her again to help her regain some control of her movements after she suffered a stroke at 92.

4. His children became celebrated yoga teachers as well  :  His eldest daughter Geeta and his son Prashant have become internationally renowned yoga practitioners and now run the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute - which BKS Iyengar founded in 1975 in honour of his late wife. He also trained his granddaughter, Abhijata Sridhar Iyengar as a yoga teacher for many years and she now teaches at the institute and abroad.

Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (1918 – 2014), better known as B.K.S. Iyengar,  authored many books on yoga practice and philosophy including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Light on Life.   The Indian government awarded Iyengar the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.  In 2004, Iyengar was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Iyengar supported nature conservation, donated Rs. 2 million to Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysore, thought to be the largest donation by an individual to any zoo in India.  Iyengar helped promote awareness of multiple sclerosis with the Pune unit of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India.  His  most important charitable project involved donations to his ancestral village of Bellur, in the Kolar district of Karnataka. Through a trust fund that he established, he led a transformation of the village, supporting a number of charitable activities there. He built a hospital, India's first temple dedicated to Sage Patanjali, a free school that supplies uniforms, books, and a hot lunch to the children of Bellur and the surrounding villages, a secondary school, and a college.

Great man indeed !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

14^th Dec 2015

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Regards,

T.P.Anand

Chennai,India.

19th December 2015

YELLAPRAGADA SUBBAROW

I am going to share about a great Indian scientist of the 20th century perhaps not just India but the entire world.

We all know that even today cancer is one of the most feared diseases of the world and till today scientists and doctors are working to completely cure it.  It is interesting to know that significant work in this field was done by a scientist

Yellapragada Subbarow led one of the most important researches in America during World War II.

He discovered the role of phosphocreatine and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as an energy source in the cell.  This lead to the foundation of biochemistry and all the further discoveries in this field are directly or indirectly influenced by this.

He developed methotrexate for the treatment of cancer.  This, without a doubt, is the single most important drug for the treatment of innumerable cancers.  He has saved literally millions of life through this drug.



He was one of the best minds India has ever produced.

Rhea Ravikumar
Toulouse, France
12th December 2015

Note: Rhea is my eldest brother T.P.Ravikumar's daughter and is 9 years old.

- T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
13th December 2015

SUPER SINGER 5 - TOP 5

This year's Super Singer contest has been one of the best in my opinion and the competition has been very tough.  The competitors are so good that it is difficult to choose amongst the top 33 which has now got reduced to 9 today.

The top nine contestants who are in the fray for the coveted title of Super Singer 5 are:

1. Lakshmi
2. Priya
3. Fareeda
4. Anand 
5. Arjun
6. Raja Ganapathy
7. Nirujan
8. Siyad and
9. Hari

While all the above 9 are good and there could be some surprise entrants through the Wild Card this competition can swing in any whichever way.  It is extremely difficult to predict who will ultimately make it to the Top 5 for the Finals.

My prediction based on the performances so far is that the following contestants will make it to the Final of the Super Singer Season 5:

1. Lakshmi
2. Fareedha
3. Anand Aravindakshan
4. Arjun
5. Raja Ganapathy

Having said that I also feel that Siyad could give a tough time for Arjun and sneak into the final at the last minute.  Arjun has been performing exceptionally well particularly after forgetting the lyrics and hence I would give him an edge over Siyad.  The other two dark horses and surprise final contestants through wild card could be Kiran Shravan and Sowmya.  Both of them are great singers and very versatile singers.

Lakshmi:  She is a very consistent singer and I liked the way she is handling herself.  Very calm and composed and sings all the genres of music very comfortably.  Her presentation of Oh Butterfly in front of SPB was an ultimate treat.

Fareedha: Fareedha gave some extraordinary performances and had a bad patch as well for few weeks.  She has the experience of being a stage singer and is able to handle the melodies very well.  She tried a few songs outside of her comfort zone and did well.  I particularly liked her performance in the dedication round.

Anand Aravindakshan:  One of the most consistent performers in this season.  I like the smile on his face and the attitude.  To me he is the one of the best singers in this season right from the beginning.  Even in top 33 he showed the signs of reaching to the Finals.  Exceptionally well talented and high gifted singer.  He sang Kannamma in front of SPB very well and SPB was in tears.  I liked his rendition of the Raghavendra Song in the Classical Round:

Arjun Adapalli: Arjun has been a very special contestant and the attitude and involvement he has exhibited in every performance is fantastic.  He can inspire several other singers with his total dedication and involvement.  He has the rare ability to get into the spirit of the song and performs with ease.  Though he forgot the lyrics in one of the competitions, I feel he is a very good singer who will do well as a professional singer.  His rendition of Uchi Vagudeduthu was a great performance:

Raja Ganapathy:  Raja is a star and has been performing in the Super Singer Juniors for the last three years.  His versatility is clealy pitching him as one of the favourite contender for the title.  He was singing initially only classical songs because of his strong Carnatic Music training. 

Finally it could be a clash between Lakshmi, Anand and Raja for the title at the end.

All the best to all the singers.  You guys are doing a great job and the amount of entertainment you are providing to regular Super Singer viewers like me is invaluable and truly appreciated.

Regards,

T.P.Anand 

Dubai,

4th December 2015 

PROUD MOMENT

My elder son Ashwath Anand has finished his Masters in Interaction Design from Savannah Colleage of Arts and Design, USA in May 2015.  He has just started his career in a start up company and has posted an article.  When I read the article I was really happy and was proud as a Father.

The following is the link to his article which is quite an interesting one to read:

https://medium.com/junior-writes/hacking-how-i-learned-to-learn-8dc95635db29

Hope you enjoyed the article and you will get to read again my blog posts very soon.

Regards,

TP Anand

Dubai, U.A.E.

GIVERS GAIN PHILOSOPHY

Mahabharata is the epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War which was written by Sage Vyasa.  It is the longest poem ever written with over 1.8 million words in total.

Lord Krishna is the central figure in the Mahabharata and he provides the necessary guidance and support to the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra War.

Arjuna the third son among the Pandavas is pitched against Karna.  Karna is born to Kunti before her marriage to Pandu and is a close friend of Duryodana.  He fights the War on behalf of the Kauravas.

Karna is known for his generosity and the following is an interesting story from Mahabharat to depict the greatness of Karna.

Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village.  Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered an unparalleled Donor and not him.

Krishna, turned two mountains into gold and then said, “Arjuna, distribute these two gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate every bit of it”.

Arjuna went into the village and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain.  The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountains with a huffed up chest.


For two days and two nights Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager.  The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.  Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes.  Now Arjuna was exhausted, but not ready to let go of his Ego, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.


Then Krishna called Karna and told him to donate every bit of the two gold mountains.  Karna called the villagers, and said “Those two Gold mountains are yours”, and walked away.


Arjuna sat dumbfounded and thought “Why this thought has not occurred to me”.
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him, “Arjuna subconsciously, you were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount.  Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.


Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. 

That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment.  Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.  Give without expecting anything in Return.  Givers Gain.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
2nd March 2015

S.AISHWARYA - THE RISING STAR

I was fortunate to attend the concert of S.Aishwarya in the Auditorium of Indian Consultate today morning.  It was a real pleasant treat for the ears as she sings so well.

S.Aishwarya is the Great Grand Daughter of the legend Smt.M.S.Subbulakshmi and when I heard the Concert I felt as correctly mentioned by the compere "the legacy continues...".  Aishwarya is the Grand Daughter of Smt.Radha Viswanathan and whenever we listen to the great M.S.Subbulakshmi songs we will get to hear the voice of Radha Viswanathan who was a pillar of support for the legendar MS Amma.

S.Aishwarya gave her first solo concert in 2007 when she was only 11 years old.  She has given more than 200 concerts in the last seven years.  At the age of 17 she really sings very well.  S.Aishwarya is truly a rising star and will be one of the most renowned singers in Carnatic Music circuit in the years to come.



I was completely mesmerised by the singing and some parts of her singing clearly resembled the great MS Amma - not surprising at all.  It was a delight to listen to her as it was the purest form of Music with perfect rendering.  One could see the dedication, sincerity and devotion when she was singing.  I think this youngster will carry on the tradition in the family and continue to sing well for the next several decades.

She has very good tone, range and excellent breath control.  She has all the qualities required for a good Carnatic Singer and above all has the music in her blood being part of the family of great musicians like Smt.MS and Smt.Radha.  When she sang "Kurai ondrum illai" I was taken to a completely different world and I had tears in my eyes.  I heard her sing with eyes closed and could picture the great MS Amma in some parts as there was very close resemblance in the rendition and style.  I think S.Aishwarya will be the true musical heir of the great MS Amma and will shine like her Great Grand Mother in the years to come.

While I am extremely delighted and happy that I attended the concert and heard this great singer, I am little disappointed that I could not record the songs and take pictures as they did not allow mobile phones to be taken inside the Auditorium.

I wish her all the very best and look forward to many more such concerts.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
30th January 2015.

SOMETHING SMAK

SOMETHING SMAK is a new born enterprise which was founded on the 1st January 2015 by two young first generation entrepreneurs in Dubai.  2015 is going to be a year of start-ups.  I read recently in a magazine in India that lot of new ventures will come up in the year 2015.

The products are services are now being transmitted more than being transported.  In this era of technological advancement we will see more and more start ups which will be operated only with one laptop and no other infrastructure.  These start ups will have the greatest advantage of being low or almost zero on fixed costs and hence the products and services are bound to be priced reasonably.

In any buying decision the clinching moment when the decision is made is actually when the consumer mentally compares the Perceived Value with the Price.  Irrespective of whether the product is needed or not the buying decision is made when the consumer feels that the perceived value is higher than the price.

Start Up Enterprises also have the greatest advantage of using the social media and hence do not even need a Server or a Website for advertising and showcasing their products and services.

I am going to write a series of articles on Start Ups in 2015 and first one I have chosen is Something SMAK.

The idea and the concept of focusing on Jewellery  is very good.  The young and old today are keen to possess Jewellery, Accessories which are in fashion.  

We have a saying in tamil "Aal paadhi aadai paadhi" which means that the person is only 50% and the other 50% is the dress and accessories that one is wearing.  

If you look good you will obviously feel good.  When you feel good you are confident and you perform better.  Hence it is important for all of us to look good first.

I have invited quite a few friends of mine to like the facebook page of Something SMAK today morning and then decided to follow-up with this write up with some pictures.

 The art of making jewellery with paper is called "Quilling". It is handmade with quilling tools. These paper quilled jewellery are absolutely light in weight and can be made to suit the taste of any generation.

Terracotta jewellery is made out of Clay. The clay is made into the desired shapes and sizes, baked in an oven and then hand painted. Terracotta jewellery look very elegant on any Indian outfit.

The designs are trendy and some of the products I feel can be worn by all age groups.  The concept, designs and style are really very eye catching and appealing.  

These Jewellery are quite nicely done with natural products which are environmentally safe.  Each piece is hand crafted with precision and comes with unique design and high quality.

The two youngsters who have started Something Smak in Dubai are doing this as a pastime with lot of passion and involvement.  

Please visit the facebook page and order for the Jewellery of Something SMAK:

https://www.facebook.com/SomethingSmak

I wish the Something Smak Team all the very best in 2015.  You have made a good beginning and you will surely grow your business and be successful.  

T.P.Anand

3rd January 2015
Dubai, U.A.E.